Armed Forces: Discharges

Andrew Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many and what proportion of personnel of each of the armed forces were administratively discharged in each year since 2001.

Kevan Jones: holding answer 5 March 2010
	 The term administrative discharge is applied to those service personnel who are to be dismissed from the armed forces for which there is no specific exit category. Service personnel may be administratively discharged as a result of a range of factors including: civil conviction, failing to maintain a level of physical fitness to pass a fitness test despite undertaking remedial training, financial mismanagement, persistent poor conduct and failing a random drug test. The following tables provide information on the total administrative outflow since 2001:
	
		
			  Table 1: Administrative discharges in respect of the naval service 
			  Naval service  Administrative discharge  Proportion of all discharged (percentage) 
			 2001-02 1,500 28.4 
			 2002-03 1,420 29.6 
			 2003-04 1,320 28.3 
			 2004-05 1,350 29.6 
			 2005-06 1,130 25.9 
			 2006-07 1,000 23.1 
			 2007-08 1,090 24.6 
			 2008-09 660 23.0 
		
	
	
		
			  Table 2: Administrative discharges in respect of the Army 
			  Army  Administrative discharge  Proportion of all discharged (percentage) 
			 2001-02 6,460 45.5 
			 2002-03 6,950 48.5 
			 2003-04 7,230 50.7 
			 2004-05 6,940 47.1 
			 2006-07(1) 6,750 47.7 
			 2007-08 (2)- (2)- 
			 2008-09 (2)- (2)- 
			 (1) Data are for an 11 month period from legacy systems prior to JPA. (2) Not held centrally. 
		
	
	
		
			  Table 3: Administrative discharges in respect of the Royal Air Force 
			  Royal Air Force  Administrative discharge  Proportion of all discharged (percentage) 
			 2001-02 750 16.5 
			 2002-03 990 23.3 
			 2003-04 1,210 29.9 
			 2004-05 940 25.3 
			 2005-06 730 15.9 
			 2006-07(1) 1,660 32.7 
			 2007-08 1,950 38.7 
			 2008-09 1,360 31.6 
			 (1) Introduction of new administrative discharge procedures under Queen's Regulations  Note: Data have been rounded to the nearest 10. 
		
	
	All data have been gathered from legacy systems and JPA. The Army are continuing data cleansing and improvement exercises. As a result figures are not held centrally, at this time, in respect of those Army personnel administratively discharged after 2006.